Louisa asked in bewilderment.

“What are you doing here?”

They had parted on not-so-good terms when they last met at the opera house.

Yet here they were, face to face in such a private setting, just days later.

“As you can see, I was dragged here.”

Evan shrugged and nodded towards Evelyn. At that, Evelyn laughed and said,

“Wouldn’t he know better than just the two of us? He’s a sort of guide, a guide.”

“I’m expensive labor. If you want to hire me, you need to pay an appropriate price.”

“The price is our friendship. How about it?”

“That’s quite a cheap price, Evelyn.”

Finding his response quite amusing, Evelyn laughed heartily once again. She linked arms with Louisa and said,

“Everyone else is going sightseeing, but my husband is away on a business trip. I thought I’d have to wait helplessly for him to return, but I’m so glad it turned out like this. If I could, I’d like to give your husband a kiss.”

She threw out a joke. Then Evan pointed out with a startled expression,

“Why don’t you think again about whether that statement considers the listener’s position?”

“Of course, a man like you who reacts so seriously to such jokes wouldn’t receive a kiss even if you bowed your head and begged, Evan.”

At her nonchalant words, Evan shook his head.

Louisa couldn’t help but chuckle at the banter between the two. Seeing her expression soften a bit, Evelyn smiled brightly and exclaimed,

“Shall we go then? To the festival overflowing with sights to see.”

Louisa moved her feet, pulled by the force tugging at her.

She couldn’t understand why her husband had arranged such a meeting.

But since it had come to this, she decided to go to the exhibition hall herself.

It was quite welcome to forget her husband for a moment while seeing her friends’ faces, and it also seemed it would be comfortable for her to go to the exhibition hall and check people’s reactions firsthand.

The three who arrived at the exhibition hall gaped in awe.

It was such a massive crowd that the space, large enough to fit several universities, looked cramped.

Truly fitting the expression ‘filling the streets’, from one end to the other, people were packed so tightly there wasn’t even room to put a foot down.

Evelyn clicked her tongue, saying she hadn’t known there were this many people in the capital despite living here for years.

“This exhibition must be highly anticipated by everyone.”

Evelyn said in a small voice, compressed by the people around her. Then Evan, who was looking at a printed pamphlet, replied,

“The confrontation between Allen and Westwood, with all sorts of newspapers covering it for days, how could people not be curious?”

“Actually, I thought I was dying to come after seeing those articles too.”

Evelyn giggled. Then she whispered to Louisa next to her,

“Aren’t you curious to see what kind of face that old Westwood will make this time? Last time was really worth seeing. Thanks to that, I even greeted your husband saying I had a good show.”

This was news to Louisa. She just smiled faintly and turned her head.

Her interest was elsewhere. The only thing important to her was one thing.

That her husband would quickly establish himself so that it would be alright for her to leave, so that she could distance herself as soon as possible. That was the only thing.

“Shall we go see the great Allen Company’s exhibit first?”

“If we can just find our way properly among all these people, that is.”

Evan, who had been looking at the pamphlet and searching for signboards, finally snapped in irritation.

“Don’t be silly. We just need to go where the crowds are gathering. Everyone’s here for the same reason anyway.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than they heard people around them chattering.

“I heard Westwood Company has brought out a magic stone engine this time. Have you seen it?”

“No, not yet. They say Allen Company has brought out some kind of train, I’m terribly curious what that’s all about.”

“Actually, I came straight here for the same reason. Seems we’re all thinking the same thing.”

Hearing the passing people’s conversation, Evelyn, who had been shrugging with an ‘See? I told you so’ look, widened her eyes and looked at Louisa.

“Train?”

She asked Louisa in disbelief.

“Weren’t you only making automobiles?”

It wasn’t just Evelyn who reacted to those words. Evan also looked at her with surprised eyes.

“Ah… It seems they’ve made an engine with much higher output this time.”

“A magic stone engine?”

“That’s what I heard. The existing steam engines had problems with steam generated during startup, but this is a magic stone engine so it doesn’t have that issue, they say.”

“If that’s true, it can’t help but be a great invention. It will cause another big ripple.”

Evan slightly lowered his gaze, seemingly deep in thought. But too much praise could only inflate unnecessary expectations. Louisa added a word out of concern.

“You know more about engineering than I do, so go and see for yourself.”

“Of course, that’s what I intend to do.”

He quickly replied, clenched and unclenched his hands a few times, then urged them to hurry.

It was while they were walking, pushing through the crowds. They heard people shouting from afar.

“Look, over there!”

A man raised his finger pointing to their left.

A black, huge hunk of metal, visible even over the heads of the teeming crowd, was approaching them with a ponderous sound.

Seeing it, Evelyn muttered in an uncertain voice.

“Could it be… a train?”

Unlike existing steam locomotives, even the front engine car carrying the power unit had a sleek shape like a regular train car.

It didn’t take long for the train approaching from afar to reach where they were standing. Perhaps because it was a train that only ran inside the exhibition grounds, it wasn’t as fast as regular trains, but the mere fact that a train of such appearance was running was already a new surprise to people.

Evan, who had been staring blankly at the train passing in front of him, muttered.

“That seems to be the train Allen Company exhibited this time. It’s truly amazing.”

“My goodness, I’ve never seen a train that looks like that before. Where’s the chimney?”

To Evelyn’s question, Evan answered without taking his eyes off the moving train.

“The power source is a magic stone. Why would it need a chimney? This is really… the best.”

He muttered, staring as if mesmerized at the train pulling the long line of cars.

Listening to his words, Evelyn opened her mouth wide and grabbed Louisa’s hand.

“Did you hear that? He said it’s the best! How much money are you trying to rake in!”

Evelyn, holding her hand, hopped up and down on the spot as she spoke.

“My goodness, at the next party I can really come dripping with jewels until my neck breaks. No one will be able to say anything. What am I saying about jewels. You could just bring the entire department store on your head and no one could say a thing!”

Evelyn shouted in great excitement.

“It’s really the best, Lucy!”

Louisa smiled at the reactions of the two.

She certainly thought when she first saw her husband’s work that it would do well, that it was an invention with more than enough demand.

But seeing the result with her own eyes like this was definitely much more reassuring than when she was convinced on her own.

This settled it. Her husband’s project would soon be on track, and her immediate departure wouldn’t cause his company to falter.

Now it was just a matter of time.

“Thank you. I’m really glad the reaction is this good.”

Now I can really leave with a light heart.

For the first time in recent memory, Louisa smiled broadly with sincerity.

Westwood Company’s exhibition hall was on the opposite side from Allen Company’s, in the east wing.

It would take considerable travel time to go sightseeing there, and Edward, who thought it was a waste to spend that much time just for that, completely ignored Jeffrey’s suggestion—or rather, his whining—to go and take a look at least once.

Jeffrey chased after him, shouting.

“Oh, sir! Are you really not going to look? It’s a magic stone engine! How do you know what they might have stolen and put there!”

“That’s why I pay Gilford a salary, to look into such things and respond. And no matter how much they struggle, I’ll win anyway. Don’t you know?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Jeffrey looked dejected. But Edward couldn’t care less about his mood. There was a more important issue at hand.

‘I wonder if Louisa is enjoying the sightseeing.’

He was now, as a matter of course, thinking of his wife before work.

Coming out in the morning to the exhibition grounds, he saw several groups of nobles mixed with men and women, who might have been spouses or friends.

They were all talking about something and laughing. Seeing that scene, for some reason, he immediately thought of his wife.

Would Louisa enjoy coming out with her friends too?

He just had that thought. Since she didn’t seem to enjoy watching operas with him very much, perhaps for such sightseeing, friends who shared her interests might be better than him.

So he had a telegram sent to the Bryce mansion midway. Edward thought there probably wasn’t anyone else who abused the telegraph as much as he did.

‘This should make Louisa’s mood a bit better.’

His wife’s smile, unlike before, now made him rather uneasy. She was clearly smiling, but it felt somehow detached from this place.

It might have been that he had become sensitive after his wife’s declaration of separation, but in any case, she still hadn’t said she would withdraw that statement.

So he had to try something more. To make his wife happy and joyful even while staying by his side.

At that moment, a voice breaking his reverie came from behind him.

“Well, was the response good?”

It was the voice of a middle-aged man, imbued with the arrogance peculiar to nobles.